The Technology Imperative: A Tipping Point for Serious Aerospace Marketers

The most successful aerospace businesses are changing the way they market, wisely leveraging technology for maximum efficiency and effectiveness. So this week we take on the topic of technology and suggest how aerospace marketing professionals can use technology to fundamentally change the way they market and sell — for the better.

Some marketers always seem to be overwhelmed, unable to keep up with an ever-expanding list of demands for ads, collateral, PR, and trade show support.

Their focus is on delivering a collection of stuff, or outputs, and they do it very well. Sadly, they are probably too busy to notice that their skills are rapidly becoming, at worst, irrelevant — and at best, a commodity.

Other marketers are less frenzied and more in control. They have evolved the marketing process to match the needs of B2B buyers and use data-driven methods to ensure that marketing is driving results.

Their focus is on delivering outcomes. They are masters of marketing and technology, are highly employable, and extremely well compensated.

Meet MarTech.

If you haven’t done so already, maybe it’s time to change the way you market and sell by using marketing technology (MarTech).

MarTech is any technology that helps marketers be more efficient or effective in reaching their audiences at the right time with the right offers. It’s ideal for marketers dealing with tight budgets and is well suited to lengthy aerospace buying cycles. It encompasses everything from email to predictive analytics, and supports each stage of the sales funnel, from awareness and evaluation to purchase and advocacy.

And because MarTech tools are digital, they are infinitely more trackable and measurable than traditional marketing methods.

No wonder B2B companies are using and investing in MarTech like never before. MarketingProfs recently published the results of a study from Informatic, Dun & Bradstreet and Ascend2 showing that 65% of B2B companies are increasing marketing technology budgets. The study also revealed:

The most-used MarTech tools.

Email marketing (89%)

Social media marketing (70%)

Marketing analytics (61%)

CRM/Sales automation (58%)

CMS/Content management (55%)

Search marketing (52%)

Marketing automation (49%)

Data management (37%)

Testing and optimization (31%)

The most common reasons B2B marketers use MarTech.

Increase leads (56%)

Increase sales revenue (53%)

Increase conversion rates (46%)

Improve targeting/personalization (38%)

Improve efficiency/reduce costs (33%)

Improve technology integration (25%)

Improve data quality/accuracy (19%)

Improve behavioral predictability (14%)

It’s Not Easy.

It’s understandable that businesses are apprehensive about adopting new tactics and techniques. Evaluating, purchasing, implementing and optimizing these systems is a tremendous undertaking and not without risk. But the real risk, to both your career and your business, is refusing to change, and like it or not, this is our new reality. With this in mind, are you interested in changing the role and contribution of marketing in your organization?

What do you expect MarTech to accomplish, and how will you measure success?

Develop a plan, budget and schedule

What steps will you take to achieve your goals, what will it cost, and how long will it take? What is the expected return on investment?

Take things one step at a time

...and remember that it’s OK to start small (as long as you start). Getting a CRM, if you don’t have one, should be your very first step. It’s a must and a bare minimum for every marketing organization.

Get management, sales and IT buy-in

Without this organizational support you will certainly fail. Making sure that sales is on board is especially critical, and enormously tricky. MarTech fundamentally changes the relationship between sales and marketing, giving marketing more control over more of the process, and making sales accountable.

Try before you buy

Demo any system you are considering, and ask to speak with current customers. They’ll tell you the truth about the implementation and integration process.

Training, Training, Training

According to Lead MD, marketing technologies are only as intelligent as the users behind them. “Without a solid foundation of strategies, benchmarks, and training, users often apply old tactics and behaviors to the new platform, which then delivers similar results.”

Commit to using the system

Lead MD also says that non-technical teams often get comfortable with one or two basic features and settle into a pattern, ignoring the rest of the platform. Usually this takes the form of using marketing automation as a blast email system instead of exploring all of its rich potential.

Be transparent

Be honest and open about what’s working, and what’s not, with everyone on the team. Create a sense of shared destiny and come together to make improvements.

Don’t get distracted

There will always be shiny new software from a tech company making big promises. Don’t get distracted by the next big thing, and stay focused on accomplishing your goals.

Be flexible

There’s no single formula or one-size-fits all solution. Some of this is trial and error, and learning as you go. In order to succeed, you have to be willing to occasionally fail.